At a staff meeting April 5, management said those whose jobs were cut — all in production roles and representing the bulk of the production department — were invited to apply for the new positions.

John Ferrugia, who recently joined the team at Rocky Mountain PBS, on Feb. 23, 2016. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

The restructuring comes in the wake of the hiring of John Ferrugia by RMPBS in February, a high-profile hire which RMPBS President and CEO Doug Price confirmed is intended to signal the network’s new dedication to investigative journalism.

“Since I’ve been here,” Price said, “we’ve gradually altered the emphasis of our production. We’re much more journalistically oriented. Doing fewer one-offs, more series. The goal was to be more adept at swiftly executing on the journalism that we do. We have to make it compelling television. Make it more efficient and quicker.”

The new positions: shooter/editor producer (two people) and multimedia marketing.

The moves may be laying groundwork for the launch of an investigative series to be headed by Ferrugia.

“We’re never going to be in the breaking news business, but we’re going to have to be quicker in our pace,” Price said. “This is not an economic decision. It’s a mission-driven decision.”

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.